Adjusting the balance (Bose Wave Radio/CD)

Member Name: bartycrouch

Product:	Bose Wave Radio/CD
Date:	31/03/05 (10810 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: 30 day free trial, New model is even sleeker, Ideal for the upmarket apartment

Disadvantages: Even more expensive in the UK than US to my mind, Does not break the laws of physics

If you are looking for a review of the Bose Wave products I'm sure you have seen the controversy that they arouse! I won't go into the all the arguments here as this is not the point of the review. Please note that these point are also aimed at the new Wave Music System which is a slightly redesigned unit with a slot CD like you get in cars.

People argue over whether the sound quality is any good and complain that it is hard to compare BOSE systems with other makes, but there is a 30 day evaluation period you can have and I am sure most people will be able to work if they like it over that time!

The great advantage of the unit it has to be said is the stylish-looks and size combined with the ability to make a decent room-filling sound. The technology used is very similar to that used in many loudspeakers over the years, but it was a novel idea to include in what is a clock/radio and later the CD version.

If sound quality is the absolute priority, you can definitely get better sound for the money, but you loose the compact one unit approach, and possibly the alarm and you will have to do a bit of research. This Bose design is a clever compromise and should be judged as such when comparing sound quality.

My chief criticism of the sound is that changes in bass and treble seem to be automatically handled by the system as the volume changes and I would prefer tone controls to help with certain CDs.

There are cheaper units that are obviously aimed at the same market as the Bose, but they don't quite have the same attention to detail. The Wave family's alarm and the self-adjusting display are all beautifully thought out. You can change a lot of the settings if you want to via the remote but most people will be fine with the defaults.

Make sure you get something like a discount or a cash-back offer to ease the wallet/purse pain if you do buy.

Summary: